Hearts of Stone
by mistlove
Summary: Raven begins to realize that every time he puts on the imperial Knight uniform, the nature of his relationships with Kaufman and Rita change. Raven/Kaufman with hints of Ravita.


**Title:** Hearts of Stone  
**Summary:** Raven begins to realize that every time he puts on the imperial Knight uniform, the nature of his relationships with Kaufman and Rita change. Raven/Kaufman with hints of Ravita.  
**Author:** mistlove  
**Copyrights:** Plot is mine. Everything else belongs to Namco Bandai.  
**A/N:** The start takes place near the end of _Strings of a Debt_.  
There's a Portal 2 quote in here. (As you may have gathered, I like putting references to other stuff in my fics.)

* * *

Raven doesn't miss that hurt look deep in her green eyes, even when she glares at him so venomously and attacks him with harsh words.

He betrayed her in this outfit, wearing this identity.

He tries to explain his situation.

The Schwann Brigade hadn't listened to him when he appeared as Raven, an identity which he claimed Schwann trusted. They would have none of that and LeBlanc, Adecor, and Boccos had stayed silent and did not defend him as per his original orders.

In the end, he had had to return to the Schwann identity to take control of his own brigade. He knew that most of his brigade knew deep down inside that Schwann and Raven were one and the same. But they refused to admit aloud that their noble-born captain could be on the same level as a lazy guild member.

Rita probably felt something similar. She was unable to reconcile the easygoing old pervert she had loved with a loyal and unyielding Imperial Knight Captain dedicated to his cause.

The group talks out their plans for the future in the small little inn room.

Yuri and Judith leave outside after awhile. Repede doesn't follow and instead stays curled up by Estelle's feet. She's sitting on the bed, talking to Rita and Karol.

His eyes catch onto the jade green pendant hanging around her neck. He had synthesized that for her a long time ago. He thought she had thrown it away after the Shrine of Baction.

Rita looks up and their gazes meet for a moment before she looks away with a frustrated sneer.

He deserved that.

She and Flynn will be a good match and he and Kaufman are starting to find each other again, despite some rough patches.

Her heart has hardened against him and his heart is basically just a hefty stone anyway.

"Hey, old man!"

He whirls around at her voice. It's a quick and ungainly action, not at how slow and elegant Schwann would've been. It's more like Raven.

His hearing isn't gone yet it seems. Rita's dashing towards him, brow furrowed and eyes narrowed. She's wearing her battle mage costume, the outfit she got from an Aspio mage in Halure. She looks both intimidating and elegant.

"Miss Mordio," he greets, voice flat when she finally reaches him. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Her eyes flash dangerously at the appearance of his Schwann personality.

"Drop it, Raven," she hisses. "There's no one here you need to keep up a front for."

"I am not Raven."

He wonders if he does it to punish himself or as a way to spite her.

Rita looks hurt and angry at his words. "You stubborn bastard-"

She throws a punch out at him which he reflexively deflects. He smacks her hand to the side. His rough action sends her off balance and when Rita leans forward, he catches an arm around her middle. He props her up quickly and steps back primly.

"I'll ask again; do you have business with knights, Miss Mordio?" he asks, tone deceptively calm and casual. "Perhaps something to do with the Aspio refugees?"

Rita leans forward, jabbing a warning finger at his face. "Don't fuck around with me, old man," she growls, voice low and dangerous. Her eyes flash with a warning and a challenge. "I'm done playing games with you. If you don't want me to go into overlimit and start casting Violent Pain on you, then you'll drop the act and be straight with me."

She's cast Violent Pain on him before. In the Shrine of Baction. True to its name, it's a very painful spell. It feels like a million knives raking down his body from all sides.

He'll give in. Her threat is an excuse for him to slip out of the Schwann personality he now uses to buffer her away.

"Now that ain't very nice," he mutters, sagging his shoulders forward, as though dejected. He scratches the back of his neck. "Ya should be nice ta your elders."

Rita visibly relaxes and her face softens, looking relieved. But she catches herself and steels over again.

"I need to borrow your body for a bit."

He stares at her, wondering if he heard right. "What?"

Rita blinks once in confusion before understanding hits her and her face colors slightly. She smacks his arm with a flailing hand. He pretends to flinch away and pouts, rubbing his arm.

"Not like the way you're thinking of, you old lech!" She folds her arms across her chest and closes her eyes, turning her head away from him. "Don't get your hopes up, pervert. I just need to look at your blastia heart for research." The mage opens her eyes to look at him evenly. "I have an inn room rented out. Come on."

"Now now, slow down, kiddo." He puts up his hands. His words are teasing, but she really does need to slow down. It's not as though he can go just anywhere in his Schwann outfit. He has a reputation to maintain. "Keep your robes on."

She flushes red. "Screw you!" she yells.

"Well, you don't really want to do that _here_, do you?" He needs to shut up before she decides to gut him and hang him from a tree by his intestines. But he just can't help teasing her. "We'd be thrown in jail for indecent exposure."

"Overlimit," she grits out through clenched teeth. "Violent Pain. I can cast about ten times in first overlimit." She glares at him before suddenly shifting back into her casting pose. "Ugh, I should just kill you right now!" The yellow aura of overlimit appears around her.

"I've been dead for years," he says simply.

That seems to snap her back to her senses. She closes her eyes and the overlimit glow fades away. She looks guilty. And exhausted. And young.

"Can we please just go?" she asks, rubbing a hand over her face tiredly. "I'd like to get this done soon."

"Okay," he agrees simply.

He follows her, deciding it's alright if Captain Schwann does this so long as he stays prim and solemn.

She closes the door behind them and locks it. "Take off your shirt."

Raven gets to work on it obediently, without a word. He's given her enough trouble for today. He unclasps his armor and unbuttons his shirt. He shucks everything off onto the bed before turning to her expectantly. Truthfully, he's rather uncomfortable about this. It's not like his blastia heart is something he's proud of. Kaufman knows it's a sensitive topic as well so she's especially tender and careful there.

"Now whatever ya wanna research, do it fast." He rubs his arms for emphasis. "Us old folk get cold pretty fast."

"Yeah, yeah. Complainer." She points to the bed. "Sit down."

He does so. She shifts to stand in front of him, leaning forward to squint at his blastia heart. She frowns and reaches forward and touches the cold core. Raven bites his lip to keep from flinching away.

"Hmm." She raises her other hand and grips her chin with her thumb and a curved forefinger. The mags tilts her head. "Alexei didn't do a very good job installing it."

"I hope ya remember I was the trial run."

Rita falters a little at his words, but does her best not to let it show. "It occurred to me after the Adephagos was defeated that your heart might've been in danger from the spirit conversion formula we used." She curves her fingers almost tenderly across the orb's surface. "Your blastia doesn't use aer though. That's why it still works." Rita looks up and meets his gaze evenly. "That's why you're still alive."

They hold each other's gaze before Rita finally closes her eyes.

Raven can't help a bitter chuckle. "One day he woke me up so I could live forever." He lets himself fall back onto the bed, closing his eyes. "He told me that so long as I didn't strain my heart too much with artes, I'd live fer a long time." He peers at her through half-lidded eyes.

She blanches, looking disturbed. "Immortal... you really could be," she whispers slowly. "There's no way you could die of natural causes..."

"Why ya so interested now, anyway?" Raven cuts in.

He doesn't want to talk to Rita about the possibility that be might be immortal. It's an idea he's struggling with himself. He sits up abruptly, startling her.

"Wouldn't it have done ya better if ya looked at it 'fore the whole Tarqaron deal?" He pats his hand over the blastia. "It's just a stone anyway."

"It's an apatheia!" she corrects, looking offended at the use of a word so casual to describe her precious blastia. "Haven't you learned anything? It's condensed aer."

"Yeah." He shrugs. "But it's in a stone kinda format, don't ya agree?"

The Aspio mage doesn't reply for a long moment. "It's a heart of stone."

There's a moment of silence between them.

Schwann starts to tug on his clothes again. "I hope I will be of use to you again in the future, Miss Mordio."

She watches him move to the door, looking almost helpless. Maybe apologetic. Guilty. Young.

"It's a heart of stone." He places a hand over his chest. "But it'll do."

"That Imperial Knight look isn't too bad on you, you know."

Raven looks up from adjusting his gauntlets and spots Kaufman in his doorway. She's leaning against his doorframe, smiling, bright-eyed as usual.

"Good morning," she greets, pacing to stand a few feet before him.

Normally, he'd be glad to see her. Her sharp smile and narrow eyes almost always cheer him up. But Rita's visit yesterday was still weighing heavy on his mind.

"You're a sight fer sore eyes," he says placidly, hiding his grimace by turning away from her. He moves to grab his sword from the table.

"No, _you're_a sight for sore eyes," she whispers, slinking up behind him. She wraps her arms around his waist and stays silent for a moment, resting her chin on his shoulder pad. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

"No," He presses his non-gauntlet-covered hand over her clasped ones at his waist. "wha' makes ya ask that?"

"You're pouting and you're standing up straighter than normal," she replies matter-of-factly.

She knows him too well and he has to be careful how he lies.

"That's just cuz I'm tryin' ta get inta my Schwann act," he says finally. Raven pats his hand over hers and pulls away.

That's believable, right?

"You're so full of bullshit," Kaufman murmurs, almost sounding amused.

He's frustrated and Kaufman's light tone on things doesn't help.

"I'm just tryin' ta figure out what ta do alright?" He throws up his hands, whirling around to glare at her. He knows he should shut up before this turns into another fight between them, but all his feelings are backed up and the words just keep spilling out. "Stop probin' inta my mind. I don't even know what I'm thinkin' anymore!"

It's Schwann's angry voice, but it's Raven's manner of speech that comes out.

Kaufman stares at him, solemn-looking, arms crossed over her chest. "If you don't want to talk, then don't." She reaches up to adjust her glasses, closing her eyes momentarily. "I mean it. It's alright. I don't want you to feel as though you are backed up into a corner."

She's so reasonable it makes him feel terrible when he lashes out at her. She controls her anger well and when she's mad, it's usually because of frustration with a business deal gone wrong or something else. He lets her cool off and gives her space. It's no use getting angry at her for being a snappy mood because of a bad day.

Raven's the one at fault in this fight, but she doesn't snap back even though it would be completely justified if she were to do so.

He loves her so dearly and it's so strange that they're together again, coexisting somewhat peacefully.  
"You're too good for me," Raven murmurs finally, moving over to hug her.

"Not at all," the redhead replies, hugging him back. She nuzzles his neck and kisses up along his jaw. She pulls back to look at him, an amused twinkle in her eyes. "Well. Perhaps sometimes."

"Maybe all the time." He reaches up and brushes her bangs aside as she worries her hands over his uniform, smoothing out creases. His voice drops to a low whisper. "Don't ya ever hate me becuz'a Rita?"

"I'm human," Kaufman answers evenly, fingers raking through the tips of his hair. "Humans get jealous. Humans get angry." She smiles, grasping his face in her hands and kissing him on the nose. "Humans also love. And you're a special case. You're a love maniac."

If he still had a normal heart, he'd probably be feeling it swell right now because god, Kaufman is so good to him. He really doesn't deserve her.

"Hey, I know that look." She flicks his forehead then slides her fingers against his skin to smooth out the wrinkles. "Stop thinking you're not worth anything. Okay, so you have that ability to love more than one person at one given time." She places a hand over his chest. "It's something I'm okay with."

"A love maniac," he repeats quietly.

Kaufman raises an eyebrow at his tone. "Sorry, that's the nicest way I could put it."

"It's not that." He places his hands on her shoulders. He dislikes tense atmospheres when they talk, so he makes to change the mood. "It's just... love maniac brings up a _different_meaning for me..." He smoothes his hands down her arms and places them on her hips, tugging her close. He pecks her chastely on the lips before delving back in for a deeper kiss.

"Mmn. Not now, lover boy." Kaufman slips out of his grasp and swings herself towards the door gracefully. She glances back, looking regretful. "I've got to get back to Capua Torim."

"Can't ya spare an hour?" He knows he's whining but he just really wants to touch her right now.

"I could...," Kaufman smirks, "but I doubt we'd be done in an hour and I hate being late." She turns, offering a handwave in parting. "I'll miss you. Come see me later...," Her green eyes twinkle with a suggestive light, "... and we'll _talk."__  
_  
Her heart is like a precious gem. It's sought after by many and sometimes he can't believe he owns it.

"I love you," he blurts out.

She looks back at him with wide eyes before smiling, pleased and happy. "I love you too," she replies before leaving.

Maybe the term "heart of stone" isn't necessarily a bad thing after all.


End file.
